Hi drexler, I realize that this is not what you asked about in your post, but I really want to address the issue that I feel you should think about looking at. Your tenants need to be responsible for cleaning up after and controlling their dog. Cleaning up after the tenants pet is not your job and the fact that the dog is interferring with you being able to enjoy your garden and have the yard/gardens looking the way that you would like them to look is sad. A talk with the tenants may be in order.
Sorry to sound so bossy. Please take this the way it was intended. :)
gg

I agree with gg... If the tenants are otherwise satisfactory, hopefully you can work with them to train the dog to stay out of the garden. Most reasonably intelligent dogs can be trained to stay out of the garden and learn where it is acceptable to 'go pottie' - which the tenants definitely should be cleaning up, not you!

The dog can definitely be trained to stay out of the garden, but that is the tenant's responsibility, not yours. You shouldn't have to pick up after the dog either. I'd have a talk with the tenants and let them know they need to take care of their dog. One of the apartment buildings that I used to live in would charge $50 for each pile they had to pick up. It worked.

We used to have a similar issue with our neighbors dog across the street. He would let himself out of their yard every morning and come to do his business in our yard. Our neighbor would then watch me clean it up, come over and apologize, and it would be the same again within a few days.

Finally one morning I was out enjoying my yard when I looked down and saw a doggy deposit. After three years of that experience I finally snapped and started yelling and screaming like a sailor. Neighbors assumed I was having a mental breakdown and now they keep their dog out of my yard.

In retrospect I should have just put my foot down in the first place. Or called the pound. Seems to me that if the dog owner isn't willing to take appropriate action to keep the peace then why should I (or you) be worried about their feelings?

Just a thought.

Kate

Thanks for the feedback. However, I have more than 1 dog to keep out. I would like a small but see through fence installed and can do the work myself. I just want ideas on building one :)

I had to build a small fence to keep our dog out, though the height we choose (about knee high) eventually did not work because she'd jump over it.

What I eventually ended up doing was planting larger bushes which would be harder for her to dig out and then placing large decorate pots between the bushes (or large pieces of driftwood). I also added slices of lemons and limes to deter her from going into the beds since dogs hate the smell of citrus. Leave the slices to decompose, but remember that you will have to add fresh pieces once a week to keep the deterance going.

I hope this helps.

Heather

Have to agree with others about dog owner cleaning up after their own animal, not your job.

Owning a large busy dog, and small nosy dog, I also had to fence my gardens to protect them. She can't tell weeds from flowers, so it was my job to "save the flowers". One dog is about 28" tall at the shoulder, other dog is about 12" at the shoulder. Both can get pretty wild racing about.

I have purchased the tall folding section fence, about 36" tall, 10ft long. Costs about $10 at our Meijer store or K-Mart. I bought a couple packages which will hook together. I find it works pretty well!! I use it mostly for around small bushes, gardens out in the middle of the yard. Green will blend into the background, so flowers show well. White is nice to go with a colorful bed or will pop a special ornamental bush or shrub for better viewing. Looks real nice with my very short Japanese Maple with curly green leaves.

I have the green fence along the border garden, with stepping stones in front. This wire is a heavier gauge then the short, 18" folding fence. However for long runs of fence or corners, I got some electric fence posts to use for making it more solid. They are steel rods about 40" tall, usually orange, which easily drive into the ground. Also come out pretty quick with the shovel or a pull if ground is wet. I just use some small wire to twist around fence and post to hold it up well.

There are rolls of light welded fence, like rabbit wire, that work well also on the electric fence posts. More solid, in various heights. My small dog was stealing tomatoes, and this wire worked well. She ran in and out of the other folding fences! 30" tall I think. I use this kind of wire for making cages in winter, to protect my shrubs, young trees, from hungry rabbits. Runs about $20 for 50ft. Both electric fence posts and this wire, are available at TSC. I think the posts are .90 each now. You can wire the fence to posts or use clip on insulators for electric wire for the posts. Insulators are bright yellow, which can be distracting. I paint my electric posts green, to blend into garden better. I do put a piece of hose end to cover the post top in case my dog got stupid, jumped over post and didn't make it for some reason. Hose sticks up, then is folded over, taped or wired down. Hose would bend, cover sharp edges, not stab her. She never has jumped it, but other dogs think different.

Fancy fence is nice, but I change stuff around often, so fences get moved, added, resized. May need to get a machine in for tilling or adding dirt, so fence is removed. I don't want to take time to paint or keep wood up. The galvanized, welded wire, folding green fence sections, actually are not very visible from any distance. The flowers show well, with no sight barrier.

The height of 30" to 36" is a good enough barrier for most nice dogs with room to play elsewhere. Squirrels inside MIGHT be a temptation though. Dogs have to be trained to accept limits. My dogs stay in the back room, not allowed freedom of the whole house. They easily accept our perimeter fence, and that garden beds are off-limits. Plenty of other places to run about.

I do put up little fence rags to flutter when I change the fence. Dog has to learn the new locations, so rags make it more visible if she is racing about. Rags on small shrub cages, prevent smashing them down by accident. Dog works with me if I make it visible!

Husband is the one who gives me sad looks, talks about the "plant prison" with fences and cages. He says they all look so "confined!" I caught him making remarks to the newly purchased, potted perennials beside the drive. "Run away, run away! This is the plant jail, you are all going to be locked up in the Yard."

Hope the fences work for you. I scatter mothballs in the beds, helps keep squirrels out, so dogs are not tempted to ignore fences.

The height and spacing of pickets would depend on the size of the dog; I think that may be one reason you have not gotten any answers to your fence design question. To allow light and sight through the 2" pickets, you'd need to space them at least 4" apart, wouldn't you think? If the dogs are big, you can space them even further, so they don't interfere so much with the view of the garden.

The dogs' personalities and sizes will make a big difference in the height you need. 12" or 2' will show the dogs where the border is, but for a determined or unsupervised dog you'd need at least 4' to actually keep them out of the beds. Annuals, veggies, and new beds need to be completely protected, but established perennial beds and mixed borders can take an occasional paw and I leave those open with no ill results.

There was a great discussion either here or on the New England forum about dogs creating paths and how to "work with" your dog to define where he can and can't go. Since then, I notice my dog's paths through perennial beds leading to shady areas under shrubs, and I leave those open to him, planting around them.

Also, maybe getting tangled in the wire fence was the first step in learning to stay out of the beds. You might consider straightening it out and putting it back up for awhile, maybe even cutting it down over time until it's just a low border.

Good point thanks diggingthedirt!!!

The dogs head comes up about 3' high, he is a big dog. The neighbors dog is about the same (friendly but it is never on a leash). They are pretty big dogs although, I'm not a dog fan... or should I say a fan of dog owners that don't take care of their dog. The younger dog is very active, and my neighbor's is not as active. It is much older (12 or 13 yrs).

For everyone out there that has commented about the "owners" taking responsability, I completely agree. It just is so hard since I've known these people for well over 20 years. We were in Boy Scouts together and have had family outing etc... the dog was his wife's idea. They lived here and owned the dog before I bought the house.

My friend gets physically ill when cleaning up after the dog. He tolerates the dog his wife could not live without. And just why doesn't the wife take care of the dog... Well for one she is 8 months pregnant. I've asked 1,000,000,000,000,000.... times to please clean it up and I get nothing. I take care of all the yard work and know where the dog poops so I don't run it over with the lawn mower. But still, they don't clean. So... How do ya handle that? I don't know, but I know the dog is not going anywhere, anytime soon.

As for the dog getting tangled up, it happened every day for 7 days. It didn't stop him from going in to the bed. But I'm testing right now with some scrap wood. 30" in height and the pickets about 8" on center (6" apart) It looks nice and I think that I will probably continue with this project after their baby room remodel is done. Too many projects going on at one time... I still have to finish painting the house. (and I'm worried about my flower beds hehe)

goodhors I loved your story about the "plant prison." I had a good laugh. I actually used that fence, but the dog went right over it :( I guess I could try some thick fence posts driven into the ground, instead of the picket fence. Maybe more stability will keep him out. I'd maybe get a taller fence since mine is only 18 inches tall. (what was I thinking?)

Best one I ever heard about the dog poop: My BIL's neighbor let his dog wander over to other people's property to do his "business" but never bothered to follow the pooch to pick up the mess. Time and time again BIL bit his tongue and cleaned up the mess, then he finally had enough. His let the piles sit there for a few days or so, then picked them up (I'm assuming with rubber gloves...) and **HURLED** them all back at the neighbor's *house*. Never had any dog poop from that pooch in his yard again LOLOLOL!!

Good idea to deposit the dog poop in front of tenant's door.
I have a 100 lb German Shepherd whom I love dearly. She doesn't poop in flower beds, she digs in them. I got those fence sections from Walmart and surrounded the beds - that works in some areas, not in others. Her favorite excavation spots are now covered with chicken wire laid flat. Dogs will stay out of areas covered in wire and the plants grow on through. She has moved her digging operations outside the beds and we're both getting along a lot better.
My other dog is a yellow lab cross who doesn't dig - she poops on paths. Well, she's a rescue and doesn't know better so I clean up after her. I think she is getting the idea and using the back forty more often.
Those Walmart fence sections are nifty. They interlock if you want and can be moved around as needed. And are fairly decorative in a black, wrought iron kind of way.

Tough one. Especially when you are friends with these people. A nice looking wrought iron fence would work because it's sturdy. Any fence you install will have to be tall enough for a large dog - which will make it hard for you to garden. The dog has to be trained before any fence will do the trick or he'll just figure a way around it.

What really works is a motion detection sprinkler. They're sold on the internet and in pond stores or nurseries for around $50. The one I bought is called a "Scarecrow." You won't have to leave it on for more than a few weeks. The dog will get the message loud and clear. Once he trips the eye, he'll get a good squirt of water. I was actually trying to keep a heron out of my pond, but it scared the heck out of my poor dog. The heron could have cared less, but my dog learned VERY quickly to give it a wide berth. I've had dogs for 20 years and that kind of behavior is just as frustrating to dog owners because we all get painted with the same brush. It's not the dog's fault, it's the lazy owners, but it sounds like you can't fix that. Good luck to you.

Maybe you'll get lucky and the dog will be too much work after the baby. It's been known to happen.

Doesn't sound like this will work for you, but I have a LARGE yellow lab, and what I did was to stick those green bamboo sticks all over the flower beds. And I mean ALL over! It seems they are in his way or something, but wherever I put them, he stays away.

Jenny P

You know, I've thought about the "5 days worth of poop at the door" idea. I'm just not in the mood to piss-off a pregnant mom. I've actually been praying for the "baby jealousy" from the dog. I would never admit to it. One of my favorite sayings is "I hate dogs". But as I said above, I hate the owners that don't take care of their dogs... But, then I do like the owners of this dog. So I have to come up with a new saying... What could it be?

I never thought of using chicken wire to keep the dog from digging... he doesn't dig very much and only in one spot that I'm not worried about.

I have to wonder about your friend who gets "physically ill" when cleaning up after the dog. Sounds like one big excuse to me.

He may not realize it but babies poop a lot and their crap doesn't smell any better than a dog's.

I said the same thing to him but I've watched him as he has thrown up 2 times while picking up the dog poop. Also, he is apearently immune to this affect when it comes to baby... I'm still hoping for dog problems after the baby is born.